1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to track mechanisms for sliding doors, and more particularly to a track mechanism for a tri-panel door assembly that uses a header with two tracks and has an interlocking function that allows the movement of an outer door to guide the middle door with a smooth sliding operation.
2. Description of Related Art
There are many applications for sliding panels or doors to an enclosure, and the use of two sliding doors allows access to one side of an enclosure at a time. Two sliding doors on an enclosure can provide an access opening up to about 50 percent of the enclosure opening or about the width of one door.
Tri-panel sliding doors are used to provide a larger access opening to an enclosure. Three sliding glass doors can provide an access opening up to about 66 percent of an enclosure opening or about the width of two doors.
In many applications an interlock device is used to keep the doors from sliding past each other and damaging handles racks, etc., attached to the doors. In conventional sliding panel assemblies, an interlocking function is achieved by overlapping the door stiles to provide the drawing mechanism. In other conventional systems, an interlocking protrusion or stop is installed on the stile of adjacent doors. However, the sliding operation is less than desirable with these devices.
Furthermore, the header of a conventional tri-panel door system requires three independent tracks, one for each door, to allow the doors to slide without interference or misalignment. This arrangement requires a wider, more expensive header and can also reduce the available area of a small enclosure. A three track header adds to the complexity of aligning each door with the adjacent jambs, aligning three doors with respect to each other, and interlocking the three doors.
Therefore, there is a need for a triple slide assembly with an interlocking function that allows the panels to slide easily, align easily and which does not require a wider, more expensive, three track header.